Early morning North Kitsap fire destroys outbuilding, kills chickens

GAMBLEWOOD — Several chickens died and their coop was destroyed in a blaze that appears to have been sparked by a heating lamp.

North Kitsap Fire & Rescue and Poulsbo Fire Department crews were called to a home on Serene Drive at 6:39 a.m. Saturday after a neighbor noticed flames coming from an outbuilding. Firefighters arrived in five minutes to find a 12-by-20-foot chicken coop, just 10 feet from a home, fully in flames.

They quickly snuffed the fire before it could spread to the home, but several items stored near the coop were damaged.

Officials traced the source of the fire to a heat lamp, placed in the coop to keep the birds warm as fall temperatures cool. They were not able to determine whether the blaze was sparked by combustibles too close to the lamp or by heat that built in a series of extension cords chained together to power the lamp.